Since beginning my service term in Philadelphia, I have taken the same commute to and from my host site of Health Center #6. Although the route does not change, my journey is always different. Some days I will wait 15 minutes for the bus, some days I will sprint the last block to barely catch it. The bus may be packed like sardines, or nearly empty. Each morning I look out the bus window and pass the same repetitive shops and brownstone buildings. It all may look dreary on a cloudy winter day, but on a sunny day the scenery glistens with novel beauty.
The residents of Philadelphia also experience the same city in starkly different ways. A walk to get out of the house could be through a manicured lush park, or a cracked, barren street sidewalk. When one person is diagnosed with a difficult and serious illness, they feel relief that some of the nation’s best research hospitals are right next-door. Another person will panic, not knowing how they will possibly pay for the treatment. It is difficult to believe these experiences are in the same city.
Most people understand that the wealthy and the poor live with different advantages: fewer accept that the wealthy live by entirely different rules. When the cost for a treatment is high, the right to live is only for the wealthy. And when the infrastructure of a city is based on property taxes, the city is built for the wealthy. My time in Philadelphia is mixed with an appreciation for the culture and life that the city has, and a sadness in the differences in quality of life.
Health Center 6
As an outsider doing a temporary service term, I struggle with separating my work and life. On any given day, I will hear and encounter personal stories of trauma and pain. It’s hard to ignore the suffering taking place in this community I now live in, but often it's how many rationalize the society around them. People become numb to the homeless people they pass by, change their routes to only drive through the nice neighborhoods, and choose to look only at the pretty parts of the city.
I do think there can be a balance, being aware of others’ pain and also their happiness, by integrating their struggle for a better world with mine. I also want universal healthcare, better rights for workers, and accessible infrastructure. Public health does require us to work with people at the low points of their health, but the field encompasses all of life and wellness. By seeing the health journey of patients and community members beyond the illness, in the moments of happiness that define the human experience, we can see what we are fighting for. And when our hard work aligns with luck and collaboration, the sunlight falls upon the aging buildings and into them breathes life.
